The Little Black Dress Goes High-Tech

A dress to appease both the old school film lover and tech-y nerd in you (kinda like wearable Instagram?)

The design comes from New Zealand student Emily Steel and is made from film slides backed by light-sensor-equipped LEDs. In bright light, the dress is shiny and black, almost resembling patent leather. In dimmer environments, however, the back lighting illuminates the slides, making the dress glow purple. Apparently the lights also “slowly pulse,” which we’d love to see in action. According to the designer:

The Dress draws inspiration from classic movies and the ‘magic of film’ to create a wearable piece of technology and art… light is so important in the creation and viewing of images [in film] and this was one of the driving forces behind the dress’s creation. With film [we] only see what [is] really going on once the lights go out. For this to work there needs to be a balance of projected and ambient light, something the Little Slide Dress tries to emulate.

We love the idea of using film slides as material – in fact, we’re a little surprised we haven’t seen it on the runway by now (the closest iteration we’ve found is thisJean Paul Gaultier piece). Can’t you see Maison Margiela or Hussein Chalayantaking this idea to new heights?

With designers referencing bygone eras season after season, its refreshing to see someone making use of newer technologies. Old school craftsmanship and heritage references are all well and good, but sometimes we feel like nostalgia is getting a little old. Would you wear a light-up dress?